{"id":2286647,"date":"2026-02-18T00:34:39","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T00:34:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2286647"},"modified":"2026-02-18T00:34:39","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T00:34:39","slug":"im-a-celebrity-star-shona-mcgarty-urges-people-to-seek-mental-health-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/im-a-celebrity-star-shona-mcgarty-urges-people-to-seek-mental-health-support\/","title":{"rendered":"I\u2019m A Celebrity star Shona McGarty urges people to seek mental health support"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"main\">\n<div class=\"hydrate-root sc-10wlkbs-0\" data-component=\"Newsletter\" data-loading=\"lazy\" data-theme-name=\"base\">\n<aside class=\"sc-y4bm30-0 jwWhkK newsletter-component sc-1ge0fwe-0\" data-newsletter-key=\"receiveIndyHeadlinesNews\">\n<div class=\"sc-y4bm30-2 kcLSBk\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"sc-y4bm30-1 inRDZn\">\n<div class=\"sc-y4bm30-3\">\n<div class=\"sc-y4bm30-4 hfveGa\">\n<p><h3 class=\"sc-y4bm30-5 sc-y4bm30-6 fvoxRM fafQAy\">Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world<\/h3>\n<h3 class=\"sc-y4bm30-5 sc-y4bm30-8 fvoxRM fvWmZq\">Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email<\/h3>\n<h3 class=\"sc-y4bm30-5 sc-y4bm30-7 fvoxRM hkVmms\">Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p><svg class=\"sc-eaj12q-0 hKcUSR sc-culv3z-0 eifaJK sc-1ix0cah-0 PYnPb sc-y4bm30-10 fUEDPX\"><use href=\"#600f53465147d717\"\/><\/svg><\/div>\n<div class=\"sc-y4bm30-2 kcLSBk sc-y4bm30-9 iQYNfz\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.independent.co.uk\/static-assets\/images\/newsletters\/morningHeadlines1_1.png\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Morning Headlines\" class=\"sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<p>I\u2019m A Celebrity star Shona McGarty has urged people to seek help for their mental health as she backed a new <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.the-independent.com\/topic\/nhs\">NHS<\/a> campaign.<\/p>\n<p>The former EastEnders actress spoke out as NHS England said millions of adults with debilitating anxiety conditions are missing out on treatments that could help them recover.<\/p>\n<p>McGarty said:\u00a0\u201cI was\u202falways a chatty child, but as I got older, everything changed. Around 15,\u202fI suddenly\u202fbecame painfully self-aware.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI started overthinking, struggling to hold conversations, even though talking was\u202fliterally part\u202fof my job.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy social anxiety would happen when meeting new people, with colleagues or even at family gatherings.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy heart would race, my hands would sweat, and sometimes I thought I might faint. I sometimes pretend to receive a phone call just to leave a social situation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.the-independent.com\/topic\/people\">People<\/a> would say, \u2018Shona\u2019s so shy,\u2019 or \u2018She\u2019s so quiet,\u2019 and it really hurt.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m\u00a0worlds away from that level of panic\u00a0now, because\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0learned how to deal with it when it shows up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne thing that helps is imagining a little devil on my shoulder. I acknowledge it, and then I answer back: \u2018Thank you, but you\u2019re wrong. I\u2019m in control. I\u2019m safe\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople aren\u2019t judging me; they\u2019re listening because they want to hear me speak.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut the biggest help of all has been talking about it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAcknowledging social anxiety instead of fighting it. You\u2019d be amazed at how many people feel the same way. A problem shared really is a problem halved.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>NHS England said analysis of NHS data shows that more than 670,000 people were treated with NHS Talking Therapies last year, but it believes millions are still missing out on support.<\/p>\n<p>A new campaign has been launched urging people with six common anxiety conditions to come forward for help by self-referring online at nhs.uk\/talk.<\/p>\n<p>The conditions include post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), social anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).<\/p>\n<p>A survey of more than 2,000 adults for the campaign found\u00a058% would delay seeking treatment and support as they feel their conditions are \u201cnot serious enough\u201d, with 21% not seeking help at all.<\/p>\n<p>The Only Way Is Essex star Charlie King, who is backing the campaign, said: \u201cThe London Landmarks Half Marathon was a real turning point for me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter months of feeling incredibly low and demotivated because of crippling body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), signing up felt overwhelming, and I genuinely didn\u2019t know if I\u2019d see it through.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen my BDD was at its worst, I had become reclusive, I\u2019d hide behind a cap, and sometimes even looking at myself in the mirror when brushing my teeth would send me into a spiral.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut through therapy, I\u2019ve come to understand it, understand my thought patterns and tools to manage it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCrossing that finish line was the first time in a long time that I felt proud of myself.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSimilar to\u202fmy recovery journey, 13 miles once felt impossible, but taking it step by step showed me that I could keep pushing forward\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNone of this would have been possible without therapy, and I am really proud of taking the first step.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>NHS Talking Therapies is designed to offer practical skills and techniques to help people overcome a range of mental health conditions such as <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.the-independent.com\/topic\/ocd\">OCD<\/a>, social anxiety disorder, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.the-independent.com\/topic\/ptsd\">PTSD<\/a>, panic disorder, body dysmorphic disorder and phobias.<\/p>\n<p>Dr Adrian James, NHS England\u2019s national medical director for mental health and neurodiversity, said: \u201cWhile it\u2019s encouraging that thousands more people facing mental health conditions are accessing NHS support than before the pandemic, we know that millions more could benefit from vital NHS Talking Therapies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis landmark new campaign is a critical step to ensuring that everyone struggling with challenging but very common conditions like anxiety and PTSD knows that there is support available to help them get on with their lives again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThrough proven treatment and support available for free on the NHS, these conditions can be overcome to help people return to work, regain confidence or feel back to their old selves in social situations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur message is clear, if you\u2019re struggling with your mental health, NHS Talking Therapies are here for you, and you can either self-refer or speak with your local GP practice.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.the-independent.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email I\u2019m A Celebrity star Shona McGarty has urged people to seek help for their mental health as she backed a new NHS campaign. The former [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2286648,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2286647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrities"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Im-A-Celebrity-star-Shona-McGarty-urges-people-to-seek.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2286647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2286647"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2286647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2286649,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2286647\/revisions\/2286649"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2286648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2286647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2286647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2286647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}